


We Grow Where There is Room for Us

by Milieu



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Emotionally Constipated Madara, Established Relationship, Family Feels, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Language of Flowers, M/M, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-24
Updated: 2018-02-24
Packaged: 2019-03-23 14:19:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13789515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Milieu/pseuds/Milieu
Summary: Madara is good at both emotions and family stuff, and by good I mean godawful.





	We Grow Where There is Room for Us

Madara had been in a Mood lately. It was definitely a "Mood", rather than just a lowercase m "mood", because this weekend was one of the rare few in which he and both the Senju brothers were off work and nary a threatening word or look had been exchanged between Madara and Tobirama. Hashirama would have been glad for the unexpected peace - the uneasy truce between Madara and Tobirama was still far too strained considering the fact that Madara had effectively lived with them for over a year at this point - but he could tell that the lack of conflict was due more to Madara being waist-deep in his brooding than any true resolution being reached.

Hashirama had prodded a bit, equal parts curious and concerned about what might have consumed so much of Madara's attention, but he was brushed off. Whatever Madara was pondering, nobody else was going to hear of it until he had come to some sort of conclusion.

The only clue that gave Hashirama anything to piece together was the odd conversation concerning the spare room, which Madara initiated earlier in the week.

"Are you planning to use that room for anything in particular?" Madara had asked with deliberate casualness while Hashirama was brushing his teeth in the evening.

Hashirama made a garbled noise in reply and earned an unimpressed look, though he wasn't sure what Madara had been expecting, starting a conversation when Hashirama had a toothbrush in his mouth and all. Once successfully toothbrush-free, Hashirama had replied, "No, it's just storage. Why?" Madara shared his room whenever he was there (which again, was more often than not) and Tobirama had his own space. The spare room was mostly full of boxes holding holiday decorations and the like.

"If you're not using it, something could live there."

That threw Hashirama somewhat. He waited to see if Madara would elaborate, but as usual, Madara was not forthcoming. "What, like a pet?"

Madara had crossed his arms and focused on the wall next to Hashirama's head rather than looking right at him. It was difficult to tell if he was annoyed, embarrassed, both, or neither; Madara wasn't exactly in the business of easy-to-read facial expressions, and having half his face covered by unruly hair most of the time didn't help. "No, more like... a plant."

"A plant," Hashirama repeated, nonplussed.

"Yes. If I wanted a plant, could it live in there?"

"We already have several houseplants, you know." Hashirama had something of a green thumb, if he did say so himself. "If you wanted something in particular, I think it would be the best to put it in the sun room with the others."

Madara's neutral possibly embarrassed or annoyed expression shifted in the direction of definite annoyance. "No, it would need its own room. Say I wanted a... a myrtle tree."

"A myrtle tree."

"Yes."

At this point, Hashirama had started to feel very much like they were playing a dangerous game and nobody had bothered to inform him of the rules. "I think the best place for a tree would be outside, don't you agree? There's room in the backyard."

Madara looked even more annoyed by this, for reasons Hashirama continued to not comprehend. "I think it would be a good room for a myrtle. And some... some of those purple flowers, heliotropes." He finally fixed his gaze directly on Hashirama's face. "And sunflowers. Or geraniums."

At this point Hashirama had to admit to himself that he was completely lost and probably missing out on some sort of important subtext which Madara would be miffed at him for not understanding. "I... guess you could put some of those in there if you wanted, but really most of them are better grown outdoors."

As he had more or less expected, Madara huffed out an irritated sigh rather than replying right away.

"If you want to get some plants, I can clear a space for you in the sun room..."

"That's not what I- ugh, nevermind. Forget it." Madara had sulked off for his evening shower and gone to bed immediately afterwards, leaving Hashirama exactly as baffled as when the conversation began.

Now, as he, Madara, and Tobirama sat down for dinner days later, Hashirama could sense that the proverbial storm was just about to break. The tension wasn't lost on Tobirama, who shot several questioning looks between his brother and Madara, to which Hashirama could only respond with a shrug. More than once, Hashirama began to ask what was really on Madara's mind that required such a determined expression, but thought better of it.

Things remained silent aside from the sound of clinking utensils, and the atmosphere was frankly starting to get rather uncomfortable, when Madara finally steeled himself to speak what was on his mind. After taking a long gulp of water, he set his glass down with rather more force than was necessary, startling both Hashirama and Tobirama into looking up at him.

Expression exactly as stony and displeased as always, Madara looked Hashirama straight in the eyes and spoke.

"I want a baby."

For several long moments, a silence even more forbidding than the one before it reigned.

"Bye," Tobirama said, picking up his plate and silverware, standing, and retreating to the living room, abandoning Hashirama to his fate without so much as a backwards glance.

Madara ignored him and Hashirama felt that it would be wise to do the same with the way that Madara's gaze was drilling into him.

"You want a baby," Hashirama repeated slowly.

"Yes."

"Like, you want to adopt, or...?"

Madara let out an aggravated huff. "The  _how_ isn't the important part, you dolt. What I'm saying is I..." Madara visibly struggled for words for a moment. "I want. To have a family."

"With you," he clarified after another pause.

"Oh," said Hashirama. It was hard to think of anything else to say, what with the sudden giddy warmth spreading throughout him. Madara looked positively peeved at his own admission, and Hashirama had to fight the urge to just take Madara's face in his hands and kiss him until he got shoved away. He couldn't fight the wide grin that settled on his face, and quickly gave up trying to do anything but smile like a completely lovestruck fool. Which was what he was, he had no qualms admitting that.

"Don't look at me like that," Madara muttered, looking away. Hashirama's only response was to scoot his chair around the table so that they were next to each other rather than across from each other and lay his hand over Madara's.

"You want to have a baby together," Hashirama said again, still grinning like a loon.

"That's what I said, isn't it?" Madara snapped, though he was now clearly more on the side of embarrassed than annoyed. "That's... you know. The spare room. That's what it's for."

"A nursery," Hashirama clarified for him unnecessarily. A baby nursery, rather than a plant nursery. "Why not just come out and say so?"

Madara shot him a look that was more back on the annoyed end of the spectrum. "I would have figured that you of all people would understand flower symbolism when presented with it."

That took a moment to parse out, as Hashirama had to mentally sort through his knowledge of plant symbolism. Geraniums were fertility, easy enough to figure out where that came into play, as were sunflowers. Heliotropes symbolized long-lasting love, and while that was certainly enough to make Hashirama feel all mushy, he was getting stuck on myrtle. Those were for luck, weren't they? It didn't completely fit in with what Madara seemed to be going for.

"What was the myrtle tree for?" He asked finally.

Madara's expression scrunched and his shoulders hunched up. Hashirama judged by the intense displeasure radiating from him that it had probably been something very romantic.

Another thirty seconds or so of Madara trying to fold into himself and disappear passed before he caved. "Marriage," he muttered in a voice so low Hashirama almost didn't hear it.

"...Oh." Another thirty seconds passed. " _Oh_ ," Hashirama said again, grin returning and all but threatening to split his face in half. Madara didn't have time to react before he was pulled into a full embrace and the air was squeezed from his lungs.

"Get off me, you idiot," he said, voice muffled against Hashirama's shoulder. Even so, his arm snaked around Hashirama's waist and gave him a brief squeeze.

Hashirama allowed him room to move back, hands instead busying themselves with combing through Madara's hair (the way that Madara always insisted he hated, and then pouted when Hashirama stopped doing it). "You were trying to propose to me in flower language," he marveled softly, with no small measure of giddiness.

Madara huffed but didn't deny it. After a moment, he said, "If we're going to save money for a child, I can't afford a ring right now. My family being in the straits that they are, you know, with Izuna's medical bills..."

"I don't need one." Hashirama gave into temptation and cupped Madara's face in his hands, pressing a kiss to his forehead. They would be reaching Madara's upper limit of emotional availability soon, and Hashirama intended to make the most of it while it lasted. Movement out of the corner of his eye alerted him to Tobirama, cautiously poking his head back into the room to scout the situation.

Tobirama took in Madara's flushed, scowling face and Hashirama's expression of glee. He decided to retreat once more and give it another ten minutes, mainly to spare himself the sight of the mushy stuff. He sighed to himself in both annoyance and resignation as he returned to the living room and flopped down on the couch. Reduced to third wheel in his own home. Disgraceful.

Back in the kitchen, Madara imagined Tobirama's displeasure at the realization that he would soon be demoted to  _fourth_ wheel, and finally cracked a smile.


End file.
